Las Vegas Lights FC vs Vancouver - Match Preview

The Lights kick off at home for the second game of preseason, and for their second game ever. They'll be up against similar opposition to their last game against Montreal, where they lost 0-2. Not sure why we're playing so many Canadian teams - maybe they want to come down for the warmth.

Last time out the Lights lined up in a 4-3-3 formation (more of a 4-5-1 really, the wingers stayed pretty deep since they played against MLS opposition). I'd expect the same formation and more or less the same lineup tomorrow.

The scoreline from last game wasn't too bad. And despite the scoreline, I didn't think the team played that badly defensively. There were two or three boneheaded mistakes that led to Montreal's goals, but on the run of play it didn't seem like the team were getting ripped apart over and over. One of the center back, Huiqui, had a really good game last time around, and I expect him to put in a similar performance tomorrow.

Not least because the level of attack the Lights will be facing this time around is probably a step down from Montreal. Whereas Montreal play through Piatti, who is an elite MLS level attacker every year, Vancouver's danger man will probably be Kei Kamara. Kamara is a bit more of a traditional target man center forward, and while he's good, he's probably a few years past his prime. That, plus the fact that the Lights defenders are probably more used to seeing target man center forwards in the lower leagues, means we should improve on our defensive performance last week (provided we stop giving them the ball in our box).

At the other end, however, I am not so hopeful. One of the disappointing things from last time out was not so much that we didn't score - we were facing an MLS defense, after all - but was that we didn't even create many chances or half-chances to score. The only decent half chance I remember was a bobble in the box that someone poked wide.

And Vancouver is very much a defense-first team. So while I'll be looking to our forwards and wingers in this 4-3-3 system to show some more attacking punch than last time, I won't really be holding my breath.

I expect this one to be a low scoring, defense-first kind of game this time around, with maybe one goal between the teams. Something like 1 -0 to Vancouver or a 0-0.

Let's hope I'm wrong, and we can get a goal to celebrate this week.